Europe must ban Bitcoin mining to hit the 1.5C Paris climate goal, say Swedish regulators

Faced with a sharp rise in energy consumption, Swedish authorities are calling on the European Union to ban “energy intensive” crypto mining.

Erik Thedéen, director of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and Björn Risinger, director of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, said cryptocurrency’s rising energy usage is threatening Sweden’s ability to meet its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Between April and August this year, the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining in the Nordic country rose “several hundred per cent,” and now consumes the equivalent electricity of 200,000 households, Thedéen and Risinger said.

In an open letter, the directors of Sweden’s top financial and environmental regulators called for an EU-wide ban on “proof of work” cryptocurrency mining, for Sweden to “halt the establishment” of new crypto mining operations and for companies that trade and invest in crypto assets to be prohibited from describing their business activities as environmentally sustainable.

Proof of work
The key issue driving the Swedish regulators’ intervention is the “proof of work” system used to mint many cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether, the world’s two largest tokens.

Source: https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/11/12/europe-must-ban-bitcoin-mining-to-hit-the-1-5c-paris-climate-goal-say-swedish-regulators